Dark, Still Water
Rated TEEN

16. Chapter Sixteen

Teal'c reached out and grabbed for Ellison's arm, catching him a scant second before the man shoved Carter aside in favor of storming toward the warehouse they were observing. Ellison strained.

"Damn it, Chief. Just for once, keep your head down," he snarled.

"I do not believe Blair Sandburg can hear you," Teal'c offered, hoping to help calm Ellison. Carter was on his other side, her fingers stroking over his arm in an attempt to keep him from being lost in a zone. Ellison shook his arm, clearly trying to dislodge her, and Teal'c wondered if the man wished to zone. It did not seem reasonable, but then Teal'c had learned to not expect logic from those around him.

"And he wonders why I don't trust him," O'Neill sighed with exaggerated sadness. "So, are you planning on sharing what set you off this time, or should I just assume you're off your rocker?"

"Sir," Carter said, her voice heavy with disapproval.

Jim jerked, pulling his arm away from Carter, but Teal'c just tightened his grip. Only once Ellison discovered that he could not pull free did he stop. His gaze, which had been focused on the distant warehouse, now turned to the team.

"They hit him," Ellison said, and from his tone, he clearly expected that the words would inspire O'Neill to some action.

"Yeah, I figured they would. They're bad guys, Ellison. I didn't think they wanted to invite our geeks to tea." O'Neill gave Ellison a look that communicated very clearly his disapproval and his distrust. Ellison narrowed his eyes, and for a second, Teal'c wondered if the man would physically attack O'Neill. If he did, it did not bode well for his self-control. However, after a second of cold glares, Ellison looked back toward the warehouse.

"They need permission to kill Blair; he wasn't in their original plan," Ellison said tightly.

O'Neill nodded. The local base was already sending reinforcements, and the wise course of action suggested that they wait for such backup. On Earth, there were many civilians in the field of action, and the need for safety and secrecy made operations difficult. Obviously, Ellison did not approve of O'Neill's strategy.

"How long do we wait, Sir?" Ellison asked, and his tone made the term of respect sound profoundly disrespectful.

For not the first time, Teal'c wondered why Blair would choose this one to teach him of the warrior's path. As a tec'ma'te, Ellison was questionable. However, his temperament was not such that Teal'c would ever suggest that the man work with a tao qua ca tec'ma'te i cal mah—a shaman. He would not wish for him to work with Blair Sandburg in particular. Blair believed that he had failed Ellison, but Ellison had given no sign of displeasure. To the contrary, he had acted in a way that indicated a deep bond. It was most confusing, and Teal'c wondered how confused the young shaman must be.

When Teal'c displeased Bra'tac as a young warrior, Bra'tac had been quick to voice or show his disapproval, and through that, Teal'c knew he had to make amends. However, when a student found himself struggling to understand the tec'ma'te, then he worried constantly about whether his master was displeased or not. Either Blair had failed to see that Jim Ellison was not displeased with him, which indicated a dangerous breakdown in communication, or Jim Ellison was displeased and was hiding it, which indicated a dangerous failure to provide guidance.

"We wait for backup." O'Neill's words were curt, and he too stared at the distant building. Even if O'Neill did not voice his concerns, Teal'c understood just how much he was worried about their own missing member.

"What's naquadah?" Ellison asked.

The three members of SG1 all stiffened. Teal'c watched O'Neill to see how the man might react to this breach in security.

"Wow. You know, I thought you were lying about being able to hear that far. Guess not." O'Neill shrugged.

"So, what is it?" Ellison asked again. He had stopped fighting Teal'c's grip, but he turned to look down at the hand on his arm. Teal'c looked over to O'Neill for permission, and O'Neill nodded his head. Teal'c took a step back but stayed close enough to intercept Jim Ellison if he attempted to go to the warehouse again.

"What are they saying?" Carter asked.

Jim looked over at her, and from his expression, he clearly didn't want to give them any more information than he had to.

"For crying out loud. We aren't the enemy here, Ellison."

"You could have fooled me," Ellison quickly answered. In truth, they had made Ellison's life difficult in any number of ways, but Teal'c could not find it in his heart to regret any of them. Ellison's treatment of Blair justified their actions.

"Naquadah is associated with a number of weapons that don't legally exist," Carter told him as she reached up to rest her hand against his arm again. Just once, Ellison shivered as though cold. "It really is important that we know what they're saying about it. Please."

Ellison clenched his jaw. It was clear that he did not approve of any of them. "At least one of the kidnappers has naquadah poisoning. He's suffering delusions."

Teal'c looked at O'Neill in alarm. After seeing the results of naquadah on even the peaceful Daniel Jackson, the thought of NID warriors suffering from such delusions and paranoia did not bode well. O'Neill and Carter appeared equally disturbed.

"Well, fuck. Isn't that just special?" O'Neill said with great sarcasm.

"Sir, this is a dangerous situation," Carter said softly.

"Ya think?" O'Neill snapped. He stopped and stared at the distant building for a second. "Let's just hope Danny keeps his head down until we can get there."

"It's not Daniel I'm worried about," Ellison said with great emotion. For a moment, Teal'c thought the man might again attempt to run for the warehouse. "Blair is antagonizing them. Damn it, Chief, stop being an idiot."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. In his time with Blair, he had never questioned the man's intelligence. He had a great many questions regarding his self-preservation, but that was to be expected in a tao qua ca tec'ma'te i cal mah. "I do not believe Blair would do so without reason."

"You think he has a plan?" O'Neill frowned, and Teal'c understood that the man disliked the idea of Blair Sandburg trying to execute an escape plan from inside.

If Blair's plans were analogous to Daniel's, this was a thing to fear. Daniel's plans had included trying to stay behind on PB2-908, a planet that had been ravished by storms, simply to study a book. He had allowed Nem to scan his brain despite the danger of permanent damage, he had been nearly strangled on the world of Linea, he had imprisoned and starved the rest of the team while addicted to naquadah himself, and he had convinced O'Neill to allow him to try and disprove the divinity of the local leaders on a world where a Goa'uld in the body of an Unas had set himself up as a demon. Teal'c had been nearly killed during that plan. Knowing the quality of Daniel's plans, Teal'c had to hope that the similarities between Blair and Daniel did not extend to their abilities to plan.

"He has a stupid plan." Ellison turned his back on the warehouse as though no longer able to look at it without taking some action. "He has a plan that's going to get him killed. If anything, it sounds like Jackson is trying to put the brakes on it."

"Well that doesn't sound very Danielish." O'Neill gave a dark laugh.

"No, sir," Carter quickly agreed. "But if Blair's plan is too dangerous, Daniel will try to stop him. He'll know we're coming for him."

Pain flashed across Ellison's face so strongly that Teal'c believed, for just a moment, that he had injured himself. "He just keeps insulting these guys," Ellison said wearily. "He's calling them evil and soulless and comparing them to the KGB."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow at that. From his study of the culture, that would appear to be a major insult. Even O'Neill, who was normally a level-headed and circumspect leader, reacted badly to Russians. "Perhaps he sees some weakness that he is attempting to exploit," Teal'c offered.

"You think?" It was O'Neill who showed signs of hope. Ellison merely glared as though Teal'c had offered some particularly unpleasant news.

"He is... a shaman," Teal'c finished, not willing to offer the more sacred term in front of Ellison. It was an old superstition, one that Teal'c had never before subscribed to, but the elders spoke of how a tao qua ca tec'ma'te i cal mah should never be identified to those who knew his name, and his name should never be given to those who knew he was tao qua ca tec'ma'te i cal mah. Those who had both pieces of information could call to his soul.

"A shaman?" Carter's eyebrows raised.

"Okay, I didn't see that one coming." O'Neill was looking at him as though he had just said something particularly odd.

"That way of the shaman crap is just that... crap," Ellison snapped. But Teal'c noticed that the man did not deny knowledge of Blair's title.

"Among my people, those who are... shamans... are revered for their ability to see hidden truths and understand people. Some say that luck walks with them."

"Bad luck," Ellison said with a snort. O'Neill nodded.

"Look, T, no offense, but that's just stupid."

"No offense taken," Teal'c assured his leader.

"Wait. Wait, the idiot has a plan. Oh Chief, that is the worst plan I've ever heard."

"What?" Carter moved a little closer, her hand still resting against him. Ellison closed his eyes, pressing them tightly together until wrinkles gathered at the edge.

"He's going to try and get some of the bullying guards to pick on him."

"Why?" O'Neill demanded. "Is he brain damaged?"

"He thinks he can make two of the guards sympathetic, that they're starting to question whether they're on the right side here."

"Turning operatives... that's a gargantuan task," O'Neill said, clearly agreeing with Ellison that the plan was not well thought out. "And if he's anything like Danny, he's probably trying to turn the ones who are most loyal to this NID dogma."

"Blair Sandburg is most observant of people. I do not believe he would prove as poor a judge of character as Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said. In fact, Blair had been able to read his body language, interpret his facial expressions, and built rapport with Teal'c faster than Teal'c would have believed possible. O'Neill had gone out of his way to target both Ventriss and Ellison in defense of Blair, and Carter had been enthralled by his reports. While he and Daniel Jackson had similarities, their ability to form connections with others did not appear similar at all. From the stories Teal'c had heard, O'Neill had questioned Daniel's abilities and personal dedication when they had first met. He had actively disliked him and had learned to trust him only when Daniel chose to risk his own life rather than turn against the three surviving soldiers whom Ra had captured.

"It'd be hard for him to be worse than Danny," O'Neill sighed. "Hopefully our backup will get here soon because I don't think I want to test Sandburg's people skills."

"He doesn't have any, and he inevitably falls for the most dangerous woman within five miles, so his judge of character is not that good," Ellison confirmed. Teal'c did not pursue the argument, but he wondered how he and Ellison could have such very different views of the young man.

"What's he saying now?" Carter asked. She had a curious expression on her face, and Teal'c suspected that only her concern for Daniel prevented her from asking many questions about Ellison's senses and their reliability.

"He thinks the soldier who's part Indian or Hispanic is the most likely to turn. There's a second guy, older, hair starting to turn gray, he thinks that would be the best secondary target."

"What are they planning to do with this?" O'Neill asked.

Ellison stretched his neck and then grimaced as if in pain. "They're in a cell in the same room with the soldiers. They plan to piss the soldiers off until one of them beats the shit out of Blair. And if they don't beat the shit out of him, I will when I get my hands on him. This is the stupidest plan I have ever heard, and trust me, I've heard stupid plans. You should meet Sandburg's mother. She's the queen of stupid plans."

"Sir, with the soldiers having naquadah poisoning..." Carter allowed her words to trail off, but Teal'c could certainly follow her logic. A beating would likely lead to murder under such circumstances.

"Crap." O'Neill reached under his jacket and pulled out his weapon, checking it before replacing it. "If the geeks are starting to plot, we'd better get down there. Teal'c, you have point. Take Ellison with you and if he does anything like fall into a trance, leave him," O'Neill ordered.

"I'm not going to zone."

"I hope not, because these people will shoot you, and I don't have time to worry about our geeks and you at the same time." O'Neill gave Ellison a hard stare. "If there's any chance you can't handle this, you need to wait at the car because I will not compromise the safety of my team member because of your condition."

"My condition got us here." Ellison crossed his arms, his body screaming a challenge to O'Neill, and for a moment, O'Neill did not respond. Teal'c knew that the man had been surprised by Ellison's effectiveness, but that did not mean that he trusted Ellison. Sometimes it surprised Teal'c just how distrustful O'Neill could be, especially since the man chose to trust Teal'c, even knowing just how much harm Teal'c had inflicted on the universe as the First Prime of Apophis.

"Just don't fuck up now that you're this close," O'Neill suggested with very little emotion.

Teal'c turned toward the warehouse and ducked down, taking advantage of parked vehicles to close in on the structure. It took Ellison a couple of seconds to realize he had been left behind, and then he ran after Teal'c, keeping his body low and well within the shadows and cover provided. He moved like a warrior.

Teal'c approached from the south, the smell of the fertilizer making his nose itch, and he spared a thought for how Ellison was dealing with the scent. If he was having difficulties, he did not allow it to show as he knelt next to Teal'c. He tilted his head to the side and signaled to indicate enemy to the west. Teal'c inclined his head and drew his zat'nik'tel.

Ellison pulled out his own weapon and watched the area to the east while Teal'c silently crept forward. A man stood leaning against a metal fence, a cigarette hanging from one hand. The metal would conduct the zat'nik'tel charge, potentially lessening the impact and giving the man a chance to cry out a warning before he went down. This was not acceptable.

Teal'c studied the terrain, signaling for Ellison to remain in position as he slipped into the shadow of a white car. There was very little cover between him and the enemy warrior, and Teal'c watched, waiting for the man to turn his back. The end of the guard's cigarette glowed brightly as he drew air through it, holding it for a moment before blowing out the smoke. Then he dropped it to the ground and crushed it under his foot. The man shifted restlessly, turning his back for just a moment, and Teal'c darted out and grabbed the man by the head, wrenching his head to the side sharply so that he heard a loud crack.

Silently, the man fell to the ground, and Teal'c stepped over the body to check for any others who might have a line of sight to this guard. Seeing none, Teal'c grabbed the man by one arm and started dragging his body to a less obvious place.

"Let me," Ellison whispered as he appeared, grabbing the body and taking over the job of hiding it. "You're injured."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. His leg was not so injured as to prevent him from his duties, but he would not argue that point now. Teal'c moved forward, pressing himself to the side of the building while Ellison moved the body to a spot behind the white car. It would not remain hidden for long, but hopefully they would be finished quickly.

Teal'c watched Carter and O'Neill slip around to the far side of the building. The first priority was finding the hostages. Teal'c moved toward the warehouse door, resting his fingertips on the handle as he tried to listen for any movement within.

Ellison appeared at his side, and his head was tilted to the side in a way that was most disconcerting. He was obviously focused elsewhere.

"It's clear," Ellison finally said with a nod. Teal'c had a choice to either trust the man's senses or not. Gripping his zat'nik'tel, he turned the knob and pulled the door open, moving quickly through the door and sweeping the room with his weapon. It was silent.

This was the main room, and dirty skylights allowed bars of light to illuminate dusty shelves and a stained concrete floor. Ellison came in behind him and slid the door closed. "There are several people in that direction, and there's some sort of mechanical whine I can't identify." Ellison gestured toward the back of the warehouse. "I can hear Blair over there." Ellison pointed toward the corner nearest the main doors. O'Neill and Carter should be approaching from that direction, but they would have to search room by room. Teal'c decided to trust Ellison's assessment of the situation. If he proved unreliable, Teal'c would just have to trust his own skills as a warrior to outmatch any enemy he met.

Teal'c crept through the shadows, focusing on the two hallways created by a series of offices. He stopped at the entrance of the first hall and looked back at Ellison, but the man shook his head. Teal'c moved to the next hall and this time Ellison nodded. However, before Teal'c could move forward, Jim raised his hand, signaling for enemy and quickly following with the sign for two. Teal'c nodded and settled against the thin wall, waiting for the enemy to come down the hallway.

Ellison stood behind him and to the side, not close enough to make himself a target, but close enough to use the knife he had in his hand. Despite O'Neill's fears, he was clearly a warrior. Two men came out of the hallway, walking side by side. Teal'c targeted the nearest one, firing the zat'nik'tel so that the charge flared around the man's body for a second. Before he could drop, Ellison had moved in, grabbing the second in a choke hold rather than using the knife. The man struggled with Ellison, his fists beating Ellison's sides, but he couldn't yell out a warning with Ellison effectively blocking his airway. Teal'c stepped forward and grabbed the man, pressing into him so that his flailing was trapped between Ellison and himself.

The movement ended, but Ellison did not release the man for several seconds. Finally he nodded and took his arm off the man's throat. "He was faking it at first," Ellison commented as he dropped the unconscious body next to his buddy.

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. To attempt a chokehold instead of slitting the man's throat was unnecessary and dangerous, and yet Ellison had. And he had proved his skill as a warrior even as he had put his judgment into question. Teal'c opened the door to the closest office, studying the undisturbed dust for less than a second before he gestured for Ellison to pull the bodies into the room. When Ellison dragged the second warrior past him, it occurred to Teal'c that the fallen enemy appeared to be of Hispanic or Native American descent. Did Ellison have so much faith in Blair's assessment that he would risk his own life to avoid killing someone who Blair Sandburg identified as a potential ally? And if that was true, why had he dismissed Blair's observations so completely? Jim Ellison was a mystery which Teal'c clearly did not have the tools to understand.

Ellison gestured for two more enemy coming from the main area. Teal'c quick positioned himself inside the dusty office, and Ellison followed, silently taking a position where he could back Teal'c up if the enemy came in. While the position was logical and Ellison was clearly a warrior of some skill, Teal'c wished that he had Carter beside him. He knew her moves, her strengths and weaknesses. He could trust not only that she was a noble warrior, but that he understood her. While he was beginning to believe Ellison was a warrior of some note, Teal'c had no faith in his own understanding of the man.

"It's O'Neill," Ellison said, nodding toward the door. Teal'c tilted his head and slowly eased the door open a crack. If it was not O'Neill, he would have little time to disable or kill any enemy. Samantha Carter was standing with her back against the wall, covering while O'Neill opened another of the office doors.

"Carter," Teal'c offered softly. Her weapon was pointed in his direction, and they did not need an accident.

"Teal'c."

O'Neill closed the door of the other office and looked at them. "So, whatcha doing here? I thought you'd check out the other end."

"Ellison says that the hostages are down this hall," Teal'c explained as he stepped out into the hall. O'Neill gave him an odd look, one that made it perfectly clear that he was questioning Teal'c's sanity in trusting Ellison, but he wasn't going to publicly voice any condemnation.

"Right, so let's find the geeks and go home before the cavalry gets here and starts playing target practice with the NID folks or the geeks try to get themselves out," O'Neill suggested. "After you." He waved a hand, inviting Ellison and Teal'c to take point. Teal'c looked at Ellison, waiting for him. Ellison frowned at him for a half second, but then he started moving quickly down the hall, not bothering to clear any of the offices as he headed toward the far end.

"This has the possibility to be so very, very ugly," O'Neill said softly to Carter. She replied with a simple, "Yes, sir," but they both continued to take rear guard positions behind them. One sharp crack, and the whine of a bullet past them, and Teal'c dropped to one knee and pressed himself against the door of an empty office where he had some cover.

"Incoming!" O'Neill called. He had thrown an office door open and was providing answering fire as Carter scrambled. Apparently the first door she had tried had been locked, and now she was moving backwards, trying to find an open door that still gave her crossfire coverage that complimented O'Neill's position. Teal'c sent several zat'nik'tel blasts down the hall, catching the edge of the hall with the electrical blast. If enemy were resting against the wall close to the edge, that would give them a shock, enough to make them uncomfortable.

Movement behind him caught his attention, and Teal'c turned in time to see Ellison break for the far end of the hallway, his back precariously undefended. Enemy gunfire peppered the wall and sent white dust flying into the air.

"Cover!" Teal'c called. O'Neill cursed colorfully, but he fired off several rounds, forcing the enemy away from the end of the hall.

"Ellison!" O'Neill bellowed. It did no good, Ellison was down the hall. "Teal'c!"

It took no more than that single word, and Teal'c understood the order. He ran close to the wall as he hurried after Ellison. If Ellison had found Daniel, Blair, and Canarsee, he would need backup. If he was chasing some random scent and their friends were still lost within the maze of this building, Teal'c would not want to be in Ellison's skin when O'Neill found him.

Only one door was open, and Teal'c positioned himself outside, listening to the voices within between rounds of live fire from O'Neill and Carter and the enemy they had engaged.

"Put it down!" That was Ellison.

"It's his fault!"

"This is your fault, now put it down, or I will fire."

"You can't kill me!"

"Oh man, he is so going to kill you if you don't put that down," Blair offered. "Seriously, you do not want to be dead."

"Shut up! Shut up! You, you drop your gun!"

Teal'c slid to the edge of the open door. Blair stood within a barred enclosure. Daniel was holding Elizabeth off to the side within the same enclosure. A large man held a human gun pointed at Blair, and Ellison had his gun pointed at the man.

"Cascade PD! Drop your weapon and put your hands on your head," Ellison barked. Even though the hallway was dangerous, Teal'c remained out of sight. The soldier with the gun pointed at Blair Sandburg was sweating, his eyes darting around the room even though his weapon remained steadily pointed at Blair.

"It's his fault. It's your fault!" The man turned to Blair, and the echoing blasts of weapons being fired in a small, enclosed space filled the air.

17. Chapter Seventeen

Blair stumbled back against the wall, and Daniel darted to his side, leaving Elizabeth Canarsee clinging to the bars of their cell and looking ill. The enemy warrior stumbled backwards, firing rounds into the ceiling. Ellison fired several more shots, clustered around the man's heart and head, and by the time the man fell to the ground dead, Teal'c would not have been able to identify him from the small area of his face that remained.

"Chief?! Blair! How bad is it?" Jim rushed to the cage, not even bothering to cover the door or check the room for other enemy warriors. Teal'c did not know if the man had seen Teal'c there providing cover or if he was simply a great fool. "Chief?"

"Hey, no problem. I've been shot way worse... remember when Dawson Quinn shot me? That hurt way worse." Blair sounded oddly cheerful, but Teal'c could see the expression on Daniel's face, and it did not support Blair's story.

"Just lay down," Daniel urged him, helping get him settled to the ground. Blair slid to the floor, and on the wall behind him, he left a long red smear of his own blood. Ellison pulled madly at the locked door.

"Chief. Chief, just hold on." Ellison put his weapon away and went to search the fallen warrior, no doubt looking for a key.

"Elizabeth, get me the pillows from the beds and pull the pillow cases off. Put the pillows under his feet and fold up the blankets and put them under there too. Hand me the cases." Daniel sounded so calm, but Teal'c could see his hands trembling as he took the while pillow case and pressed it to the wound in Blair's stomach.

Ellison failed to find keys on the dead body. "Jackson, where are the keys?"

"I don't know. One of the other guards had them." Daniel kept his voice soft, and he never looked away from Blair.

Teal'c did not like leaving the door unguarded, but in the current situation, he did not trust Ellison to be an effective guard, either. Teal'c had only seen this level of irrational behavior once. That had been Daniel when he had been near Sha're. The irrational and overpowering love Daniel had held for his wife appeared to be very similar to what Ellison was feeling now. Leaving the door temporarily unguarded, Teal'c went to the cage and pulled out a small amount of explosive he normally carried for this purpose. The team suffered incarceration far more often than Teal'c liked to admit.

"Stand back," he suggested as he pressed the clay-like substance into the space between the lock and the bars and then pushed a small priming device into it. Teal'c returned to the door and pressed the button. The explosive flared and popped. Ellison was there instantly. The lock did not immediately open, but after three or four massive pulls, Ellison ripped the door open, the burned pieces of metal clattering to the concrete floor as he hurried into the cell.

"You're going to be okay, Chief." Ellison pulled his jacket off and draped it over Blair as he sat on the floor.

"Ellison, give your weapon to Daniel Jackson," Teal'c ordered. Ellison did not even seem to hear. He had his head tilted toward Blair, and his fingers ran across Blair's chest and down to his stomach. Blair smiled up at him, reaching up to capture Ellison's hand for a second before he released it. Ellison's hand then continued on its path down to the wound, applying pressure to the rough bandage Daniel had applied. Daniel pulled his hand back, and it was covered in Blair's blood.

"Teal'c?" Daniel asked.

"We do not have control of the facility. Backup is coming, but the NID have many warriors. You need to arm yourself and help secure this area."

"Jack? Sam?" Daniel did not even attempt to hide his concern.

"They have secured the hallway."

Daniel's relief flashed across his face. No matter what difficulties had arisen in the team recently, the ties between them were still as strong as ever. Daniel turned to Ellison. "Ellison, you either need to back up Teal'c, or you need to give me your gun so I can," he said in a tone of voice that Teal'c most often heard when O'Neill was talking to children. Ellison did not respond. "Jim?" Daniel called.

"Oh man, now is so not the time to zone. Come on, Jim," Blair said, and he raised his hand to rest it on Ellison's shoulder. Ellison shivered, and then nodded. Pulling out his weapon, he handed it over to Daniel before surrendering an extra clip.

"Thank you," Daniel said. He removed the clip and checked on the ammunition before sliding it back into the gun and coming over to Teal'c.

"Chief, just breathe slow. Slow and easy. What is it with you? I leave you for one night, and you get yourself kidnapped and shot? Simon is going to have a fit. You're just trying to get out of grading, aren't you?" Ellison's words sounded humorous, but his tone was nothing but serious.

"It's bad," Daniel said softly, for Teal'c's ears only, but Teal'c suspected Ellison could still hear. "We have to get him medical help now."

Teal'c inclined his head in agreement, but until the area was secured, there was no way to secure any medical assistance for Blair. Daniel understood that.

"How long until backup?" Daniel asked. Teal'c noticed that Ellison lifted his gaze to them at that question.

"At least twenty to thirty minutes," Teal'c admitted. Daniel flinched and looked over at Blair and Ellison on the ground. Elizabeth had edged her way out of the cell and stood near Daniel, tears slipping down her dark face.

"Will he...?"

"He's a fighter. He'll be fine," Ellison answered her whispered question. "Chief, you're going to be fine. You still have to grade those papers, so you focus on that."

Blair gave a weak laugh. "No way, man. The university fired me, so the Chancellor can grade the papers herself or shove them up her ass. Can't say I care."

"Fired you?" Ellison looked over at them for some sort of explanation.

"They have placed him on leave pending an administrative review," Teal'c confirmed without taking his eyes off the hall. The gunfire had died down, but that likely meant that the NID was gathering resources for some sort of coordinated attack.

"Yep, what you told me about the Ventriss case just making my life hard? I guess you were right, man," Blair let his head fall back against the concrete.

"You like your life hard. You put up with me, don't you?" Ellison asked, and from the tone of his voice, Teal'c suspected the man was very close to crying. "You just hold on, and all this shit with Ventriss will work itself out. Joel is on the case, and he knows about Ventriss attacking you and the rape case. You know how Joel feels about bullies, so he's not going to rest until he takes Ventriss down."

"Good," Blair said, but his voice sounded distant.

"You have to stay awake for me, Blair. Come on, lecture me about the tribal customs of gang members or something."

"You hate lectures."

"No, I just like complaining about lectures more than I like the actual lectures. In fact, I enjoy my complaining quite a lot."

"Knew it," Blair whispered.

"Yeah, well you just focus on how much you're going to lecture me and how much I'm going to complain."

"Trying, man. I miss us, you know?" Blair's voice had a thready quality that Teal'c associated with a warrior in grave distress. Perhaps Ellison knew the same thing because he held Blair's hand tightly.

"Jack, it's time for you to pull out a miracle," Daniel whispered.

"Hey, we're both still here, there's nothing to miss." Ellison reached up to brush the hair back from Blair's face, but his fingers dragged blood across the young man's forehead, and he stared at it for so long that Teal'c feared Ellison may have had a zone.

Blair reached up and tried to grab Jim's arm, but his fingers brushed over Jim's sleeve before they fell limply to the ground again. "Nah. Haven't been together for a long time. I screwed up with Alex."

The words seemed to force Jim out of his trance. "That was my fault, Chief." Blair did not answer.

Teal'c had to relinquish his observation of Jim Ellison and Blair Sandburg when there was activity in the hallway. "Colonel O'Neill, is that you?" a voice called from afar.

"In the flesh. So, what slimy piece of flesh am I talking to?" O'Neill called back.

"It doesn't matter. I have a deal for you." The words echoed down the hallway.

"Should I tell you where you can put your deal, or just let you guess?" O'Neill called back.

"We only came for Canarsee. She's a problem for you anyway. After what she's seen, you can't let her go telling the world. We'll make sure that doesn't happen, so we have the same goals here, Colonel."

Daniel reached over and patted Elizabeth on the arm. Her lips were pressed tightly together, and she appeared to be a woman struggling between two courses of action: crying or striking out. Teal'c shifted so that he could better keep an eye on her since emotion rarely led to rational decisions in the midst of a fight.

O'Neill yelled back down the hall. "No, no we really don't. She's an American citizen with rights. You've heard of those, haven't you? They're the things that real soldiers fight to protect. Like a person's right to not get kidnapped and shoved around by morons who don't know what they're messing with."

"We are well aware of the stakes, more than you." The voice sounded angry now.

"Obviously not. You're the ones who pissed off our strongest allies."

"Allies who will do nothing to help defend us against the Goa'uld threat."

"Allies who put this planet under the protection of a treaty. Allies who can just as easily withdraw that protection. You're playing with fire, and you've already been burned. Makepeace is sitting in a jail cell with most of your off-world operatives. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you're just kinda screwed." O'Neill sounded positively amused by that.

The enemy went silent for long minutes, and Teal'c checked on Blair Sandburg and Jim Ellison. Ellison was bent low over his partner, whispering, his hand pressing the blood-soaked cloth against the wound. Even if he stopped the external bleeding, Blair would still be bleeding internally. However, Teal'c did not have any solution to offer him.

"Elizabeth, you know that hand thing the kidnapper had?" Daniel asked.

"With the red stone and the part that goes over the hand?" she asked.

Daniel nodded. "See if you can find it."

"On it," Elizabeth said, and she sounded grateful to have something to do. Hurrying over to the soldier's bunks, she started systematically searching through shelves and drawers, tossing clothing aside in her quest for the healing device.

"If we can find one, Sam might be able to help," Daniel said. Teal'c nodded. It was a good plan, if they could find a device and provide sufficient cover for Sam to reach the room. Blair coughed. It was a wet sound, wet and weak.

"Just lay still, Chief." For a second, it sounded like Blair tried to say something, but the sounds he made were not intelligible words.

Teal'c turned his attention to the situation where he could be of some help. There was a sound of a motor running in the main room, and Teal'c pressed Daniel Jackson back away from the door where he strained to see what was going on. "Colonel, if you don't send out Canarsee, I'll order my men to open fire."

"That's funny," O'Neill called back, "I thought they were trying to shoot us already. Of course, if they are, they're doing a piss-poor job of it."

The engine in the main room revved up. "This is your last chance, Colonel."

"Yeah, yeah. Bite me. I swear, what is it with you guys and ultimatums? Here's a newsflash: they never work."

Elizabeth looked up at that, clearly shocked at O'Neill's nonchalance, but after being threatened by Goa'uld, the NID had very little with which to threaten them. "He will defeat them," Teal'c offered her his reassurance.

"You hear that, Chief? They're kicking the kidnappers' asses. You just hold on. You're always telling me to listen to your voice, so you listen to me now. You stay with me." Ellison looked up. "Teal'c, you tell O'Neill to get a medic in here or I'm going out there and clearing the area for 911 personnel, you got that?" Ellison gave every indication that he was not joking, but even more distressing, Blair did not react to his partner's offer to embark on what was essentially a suicide mission. That suggested that Blair was either not understanding Ellison's words or he was too weak to protest.

"Jack," Daniel yelled.

"Keep your head down, Daniel," Jack yelled back.

"Jaaack!" Daniel responded. There was no answer from O'Neill, and Teal'c suspected the colonel realized that they had a significant problem.

The engine gunned in the main room, tires screaming against the concrete and then fading as the sound retreated. "Um, guys, what's going on?" Elizabeth whispered. She was on her knees in front of a military-style trunk, black clothes in either hand as she searched for a hand device.

"I do not yet know."

"Teal'c, we can't wait too much longer," Daniel said, looking back toward Ellison and Blair. Blair was motionless, his complexion white, and a large pool of blood had gathered below him.

New engine sounds approached, lower and heavier. The engine stopped and doors slammed. Yet another voice shouted. "Spread out in delta formation, we have friendlies in the field, so identify any hostiles." Boots pounded against the concrete.

"Identify yourselves," O'Neill called, and the pounding of boots paused.

"Captain Waterton out of McChord. Who am I talking to?"

"Colonel O'Neill, Cheyenne Mountain, authorization code Lima Niner Niner Whiskey Zulu."

The other voice quickly offered a code of its own. Clearly, the division out of McChord e had driven significantly faster than the law allowed.

"We're clear, people," O'Neill called, and Daniel was out the door and in the hall before Teal'c could stop him or advise caution.

"Jack, Blair's shot. It's bad. We need someone back here now. Right now!"

Teal'c stood back against the wall and listened to the calls--for a medic, for a stretcher, for intravenous fluids. O'Neill came into the room just ahead of medics with equipment. The moment O'Neill saw Blair, he retreated to the wall next to Teal'c and watched. There was no doubting that Blair was in serious danger. For a second, Teal'c thought that Ellison might interfere with the treatment because he did not wish to relinquish Blair's hand, even when the second medic attempted to move in, but then he leaned back against the bunk. But he remained on his knees, staring as they worked on Blair. His hands were streaked with Blair's blood, and blood splattered his clothing with dull red spots.

"I can't find one. I'm so sorry, I can't find one," Elizabeth said. She was still on her knees, piles of clothing and random personal items strewn about her. "I can't find one of those hand devices." Teal'c had no words of comfort to offer her, so he could only watch as a medic pushed Ellison farther back, attaching lines to Blair's arms before lifting him onto a stretcher. Ellison rose as the medics started carrying Blair toward the door. Teal'c stepped aside to give them room to remove Blair, his face slack and pale. Ellison was close behind them.

"Ellison, let them work," O'Neill said, reaching out to put his hand on Ellison's arm. Ellison's jaw tightened. "We can follow, but Blair needs them more than he needs you right now."

"No offense, Colonel," Ellison said slowly, "but you don't know shit."

"I know you're not getting in the back of that transport with Sandburg, Detective," O'Neill answered. "Carter's gone to get the car, and we'll follow them wherever they go."

"I have to..." Ellison started pulling toward the door, and Teal'c stepped into the man's path.

"You will not go with Blair Sandburg." Teal'c fully expected Ellison to strike out at him, but right now Blair needed medical assistance and Teal'c would ensure that Ellison did not interfere with that.

"Move," Ellison said quietly, but Teal'c could hear the danger in his voice.

"I shall not."

For a second, Teal'c was certain that Ellison was about to attack him. While he had no doubt that he could disable the man, he did not wish to harm him. While Ellison might be a very poor tec'ma'te, he clearly cared about Blair. However, after that moment of barely contained fury, Ellison appeared to simply give up.

"Fine, they've taken Blair. He's gone. Now, are we going to get the car and follow or am I going to have to shoot you?" Ellison demanded. Teal'c recognized the tone as sarcastic.

"Um, I actually have your weapon," Daniel pointed out.

"I'll improvise."

"Let's go figure out where they're taking him. Come on Ellison, this mission isn't complete until we get all the geeks back on their feet." O'Neill slapped Ellison on the shoulder. "Elizabeth, I assume you're still with us."

"After that, I plan to hide behind you for as long as you let me," she said as she got up from the floor. "Is Blair going to be okay?"

"We've got the best working for us," O'Neill said without making any promises.

"And I am the best person to know if he's stable, if he has a bleed, if there's anything going on internally. I know Blair's body better than a doctor—better than Blair himself. Colonel, we need to get to Blair now," Ellison said, and then he physically shoved past Teal'c. Obviously he would not tolerate being separated from Blair for long.

"You heard him, let's go find Blair," O'Neill ordered.

18. Chapter Eighteen

O'Neill sat sprawled across two chairs in the small waiting room in Fort Lewis' Madigan Army Medical Center. Daniel and Elizabeth had finally retreated after every attempt to offer kindness had led Ellison to become increasingly aggressive. Carter had followed.

"You're going to wear out the floor, Ellison," O'Neill said wearily, but then he'd said the same thing at least four times already. Teal'c was unsure why he bothered to repeat himself because Ellison clearly had no intention of stopping. The nurse looked up from his computer for a second, no doubt wondering if Ellison and O'Neill were going to have another round of mutual insults and accusations. However, Ellison's phone rang, precluding any further argument.

"Ellison." The anger on Ellison's face softened to grief as he listened to the other end of the conversation

"He's still in surgery, Simon. The last we heard he was holding his own." Ellison looked over and glared at O'Neill, no doubt reacting to something his superior had said.

"Yeah, well I don't think O'Neill is trying too hard to get you clearance, Simon."

O'Neill looked toward Ellison, no apology in his eyes, before he returned to staring at the ceiling tiles.

"We're close enough for me to hear him, so I'm good." Ellison paused. "It's not like they don't know already. If they're planning on something other than annoying the piss out of me, I can't do much about it now."

"Get over yourself, Ellison," O'Neill suggested.

Ellison did not answer. "I just plan to stay with Sandburg." Another pause. "Consider this a request for leave then, Simon. I can't leave Blair here." Another pause. "You already know what I think of IA. And they can put their requests right up their..."

"Oh for crying out loud. You're worse at politics than I am," O'Neill said as he exploded up out of his chair. "Give me the phone." Ellison was clearly shocked, and did not respond when O'Neill plucked the phone from his hand.

"Captain Banks, this is Colonel O'Neill. Look, Sandburg's in bad shape, and if I have to, I'll find an excuse to order Ellison to stay here. So tell your IA department they have just been outranked by an Air Force Colonel who is requiring Ellison's assistance after the man stumbled into classified information. If that doesn't make them happy, tell them that they can either go along with it or I can have the mayor, the governor, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs or the President call them and chew their asses out. It's really up to them." O'Neill didn't wait for an answer; he turned the phone off and tossed it at Ellison.

"Simon's not going to be happy," Ellison said, but he put his phone away without trying to call his commander back.

"Yeah, but he has someone to blame other than you. That's the trick with commanders—give them someone else to blame... unless you're like me and everyone just naturally loves you." O'Neill collapsed back into a chair.

"So, I stumbled into classified information?"

O'Neill didn't answer, but he raised an eyebrow at Ellison.

Ellison moved closer, his voice so low as to almost be a whisper. "Like information on the NID attempting to run a second shadow operation against the alien Goa'uld threat?" Ellison sounded calm, but his body was poised for a fight.

O'Neill shifted in his chair. "Is this a new shadow operation or just them reliving the glory days of their old one, which we took down several weeks ago?"

Ellison frowned for a second, clearly confused by O'Neill's response. Teal'c was confused about why Ellison would reveal this information, but then he had no illusion about being able to understand anything Ellison did. Either the man had motives entirely unseen or he was a great fool. Teal'c had no definitive evidence to support either conjecture.

"It sounded like they were in the early stages of gathering resources. They don't think Major Carter will ever work for them, and their second choice for someone to work computers is a man named McKay, but they seemed to think he is too high maintenance. So, Elizabeth Canarsee was going to be the center of a new team." Ellison sat on a chair across from O'Neill. His back was now to Teal'c, and Teal'c was not sure whether Ellison was testing them or simply no longer calculating danger or escape routes with Blair Sandburg in such immediate danger of dying.

"Awww, and we took her away. You have to feel bad for the NID, every plan they try, we just fuck it up for them," O'Neill said with a not-nice grin.

"You aren't surprised."

O'Neill shrugged. "If you were as good as Sandburg claimed, I figured there was a chance."

"So, does this change my status here?" Ellison asked. Finally Teal'c understood. Like any warrior, Ellison desired to know where the battle lay. Were Teal'c the tec'ma'te, he would have recommended greater caution and patience, but patience was not a trait he associated with Ellison.

"Do you still have seizures where you lose track of everything around you?" O'Neill asked, and all of the customary joking had vanished.

"If I try to use the senses too much, or if I'm under too much stress, yes, I zone."

"Then you aren't eligible for active duty, Ellison. A few men and women develop P-chad every year, and as far as the service is concerned, you're just one more. The only thing your government might offer you is a bed in a top-rate facility with doctors trained to help you turn the senses off."

"Even though they're useful?"

O'Neill stared at Ellison for long seconds, and Teal'c wondered why Ellison felt the need to push this particular argument.

"A lot of traits are useful, Ellison. A manic depressive has a lot of energy during their manic phase. Put naquadah in a man, and he's all kinds of useful until he goes insane. Not even the NID is going to want a soldier with that big of a liability waiting to cancel out any advantage. That being said, I can see where the senses would be useful in civilian life. If you zone, backup is a 911 call away. The frontlines we fight on... that's just not true." Ellison nodded, his body finally losing some of the tension it had carried since the first time Teal'c had seen him. "You'll need to sign confidentiality agreements, but after reading your file, I suspect you know how to keep a secret. I'm not sure your bosses at the police or Blair would trust you nearly as much if they knew how many bodies you have on you."

Teal'c watched Ellison lose the color from his face, but he did not respond. Sometimes Teal'c wondered how humans saw him because his own body count dwarfed Ellison's. Ellison had assassinated individuals when he had followed the orders of his commanders, and in Peru he had targeted entire groups for termination in accordance with his own interpretation of his mission. Teal'c had targeted entire planets. And yet, Teal'c appeared far less bothered by his past than did Ellison. Teal'c accepted those deaths as inevitable. From the way Ellison now studied the lines in the tiles on the floor, he did not have the same ability to accept his past actions.

"Danny still wants to recruit your partner. We need scientists who can keep calm in a crisis situation. The State Department wasn't going to give Sandburg clearance, but I don't think that's going to be an option now." O'Neill laughed. "They're going to accuse me of getting Sandburg kidnapped just so I could get my way despite their very vocal protests."

Ellison looked up long enough to glare at O'Neill.

"Geez, give it a rest. I wouldn’t have done that." O'Neill stopped and glanced over toward Teal'c. "Okay, I might have put him somewhere where he could overhear, but I would never have put him in danger. He's a good kid."

"Yes, he is," Ellison said softly, and then he was up and pacing again. He paused, tilting his head and staring at the wall behind the nurse's station. Somewhere back there, doctors were attempting to repair internal damage from two bullets, and Teal'c wondered whether Ellison was listening to the operation. After a second, Ellison shook his head and then resumed his pacing.

"You know, you could do one thing to help him," O'Neill offered. Ellison stopped mid-pace. "Sandburg gave us some background material on Sentinels, but he refused to share most of it without your permission. The stuff we... liberated... from your apartment won't go to any of our medical personnel without the permission of the author and the research subject. We covert ops people have one set of ethics focused on saving the most number of innocent lives, but these scientists and doctors insist on the silliest things—like informed consent and privacy."

O'Neill's voice sounded dismissive, but Teal'c knew that he had supported Daniel and his quest for ethical standards within the SGC more than once. He rarely did so without complaining about the cost in efficiency, but in the end, he always supported Daniel. In the field of battle, Daniel might act the part of an unblooded child, a cha'til; he had a childlike belief in the goodness of others. However off the battlefield, the man was persuasive and held sway over O'Neill more often than not.

Ellison stepped toward O'Neill, confusion and aggression warring in his face. "You want me to talk him into releasing his research?"

"No, Sandburg already gave us permission. He just told us that we had to wait until we had your permission. So, I'm asking your permission to send his research over to some of our Air Force geeks."

"Why?" Ellison crossed his arms over his chest.

O'Neill stared at Ellison for several seconds, and Teal'c could tell that the man was struggling with a need to say something sarcastic that would probably ruin any chance of his cooperation.

Teal'c took a step forward. In the absence of Daniel or Carter, he felt it necessary to blunt O'Neill's less diplomatic skills himself. "Am I correct in assuming that Blair Sandburg must share his research with others before he may earn the title he seeks?" Teal'c had done research on various titles after being confronted with the issue of rank and honorifics and names early in his stay with the SGC. The assignment of doctorates was far less confusing that the habit of humans to give all their children the same name, like Jack or John, or the confusion over surnames and marriage and hypenations.

"Yes...." Ellison still sounded suspicious.

"He must share his research with others, yet he fears to reveal your name to anyone. Would it not be more rational for him to reveal your name to those who are already aware of the condition?" Ellison's jaw tightened. "The university has fired him, so perhaps this is the best time for him to seek other masters to whom he can appeal to for his proper titles."

"I don't think—"

"Teal'c's right," O'Neill interrupted. It was clear that Ellison was still planning to reject their offer, and Teal'c did not know what more the man would require in order to be convinced, so he stepped back to allow O'Neill a direct line of sight to Ellison. A woman in uniform walked into the waiting room, took one look at the two men glaring at each other, and hurried back out through a door near the nurse's station.

"This is private," Ellison insisted curtly.

"This is Sandburg's life. The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences at Bethesda will take his research and award him a doctorate without ever compromising your identity, Ellison. They know the names of hundreds of soldiers with P-chad, and you'd just be one more."

"So, I don't have a right to privacy because I'm not unique?" Ellison demanded. The aggression levels were clearly rising.

"You'll get your privacy. But this way, Sandburg gets his degree. And this way, Sandburg can save the lives of good men and women. I was on mission with a man who developed these senses. He just about got himself and the rest of the team killed because he was screaming in pain from a fucking cut on his arm. I laid on his body and half-suffocated him trying to keep him quiet as a patrol passed us. I just about killed a man who I served with... a man who I liked... because I didn't know how to handle the situation." O'Neill stopped and suddenly stood up, turning his back to Ellison. "I almost killed him to save the unit, and according to Sandburg, I could have talked him off the spike in minutes if I'd known what to do. Is your privacy worth that, Ellison? Is your privacy worth the young lives that have ended in the field because the current assumption is that P-chad is uncontrollable?" O'Neill continued to stare at the wall where prints of trees were lined up against the white wall.

Ellison collapsed into the nearest chair and rubbed his hand over his face. For long seconds, both men were silent, and Teal'c waited, not sure how to help in O'Neill's cause.

"I'll sign any releases you need," Ellison finally said. O'Neill nodded without turning around.

Teal'c retreated to the wall and watched as the two men worked on ignoring each other. The nurse behind the desk gave Teal'c a look he could only describe as sympathetic, as though he was to be pitied for working with these two. Minutes dragged into hours as the operation continued. Daniel came and attempted some conversation with Ellison, only to be glared into silence. Carter reported that she had gathered Blair's notes and contacted the director of the Center for Informatics in Medicine Biomedical Informatics. He was interested in, but wary of, such research. Teal'c could only hope that Blair Sandburg survived to defend his conclusions.

The sun was just beginning to light the morning sky when a doctor walked into the room, his face fully of weariness.

"Colonel O'Neill?" he asked. O'Neill was half-asleep, his head resting on his arm, but he jerked awake. He was up a half second after Ellison.

"How is he?" Ellison demanded. The doctor looked at Ellison in shock before turning his attention to O'Neill.

"Colonel?"

"Captain Ellison is the head of Sandburg's protection detail," O'Neill lied. Teal'c did not understand the purpose of the lie, but the doctor immediately nodded in understanding.

"Ah. Well, he is out of surgery. Things went reasonably well, and we have repaired as much of the internal damage as well. Right now we have him on antibiotics for the septicemia, but an operation of this complexity rarely comes without some complications. His lungs are already scarred and he has a mild case of pneumonia unrelated to the shooting."

"He still has the pneumonia?" Ellison interrupted.

"Um, a mild case, yes. We have him on heavy doses of antibiotics, but that poses a risk of drug-induced liver injury, so he's not out of danger, yet."

O'Neill nodded. "How soon can he be moved?"

"Moved?" The doctor appeared shocked at the very thought.

"Yes, moved. We have some of the best doctors and surgeons waiting for him in Colorado, but we won't move him until he's stable." O'Neill crossed his arms and gave the doctor and implacable glare.

"His friends are here," Ellison countered, and he was looking equally implacable. "Or they would be if you gave them clearance to visit."

The doctor looked from one to the other, clearly surprised at the argument. "Well, he's not going anywhere for a few days at the very least. He's in intensive care right now."

"I need to see him." Ellison started for the door that led into the surgical suite and intensive care unit.

"Oh no. He needs rest. You can visit him for a short time later if he wakes," the doctor said, physically putting a hand on Ellison's chest to stop him.

Ellison looked about ready to punch the doctor, and maybe the doctor sensed that because he snatched his hand back.

"Doctor." O'Neill stepped forward and rested his own hand on Ellison's arm. "Mr. Sandburg is privy to some very classified material. Until he is fully aware of whatever is falling out of his mouth, a member of my team will be in the room with him at all times. So, you need to set up a second cot for Captain Ellison. He'll remain on duty until I return from escorting another scientist back to Colorado.

"This isn't..." the doctor started with a frown.

"This isn't open for debate. I will take it up with the base commander if I need to," O'Neill said firmly.

The doctor looked from one man to the other. The doctor stiffened and Teal'c thought he might be on the verge of saluting. "Yes, sir. I'll need a few minutes with the nurses to get him moved into a larger room. But whoever is in there will have to yield for medical personnel. Mr. Sandburg is critically ill."

"I have medic training," Ellison said softly. "If nothing else, I know how to stay out of your way."

The doctor sighed in defeat. "I'll talk to the nurses." He turned and left the room. O'Neill continued to stand for a moment with his hand on Ellison's arm, and Teal'c could not decide if the gesture was one of control or reassurance. Before Teal'c could decide, O'Neill dropped his arm and turned away.

"Thank you," Ellison offered.

"Just don't let me catch you shoving him into any more dumpsters," O'Neill warned. He turned and poked a finger in Ellison's direction. Ellison didn't answer, but he flushed deep red before giving a nod. Considering that O'Neill had treated Daniel poorly on more than one occasion, Teal'c was ready to give Ellison a second chance, just as the team had given O'Neill his second chance with them. Whatever conflict they might have, Ellison had given permission for Blair's research to go to Bethesda, and after talking to Blair, Teal'c had been left with the impression that the man would never do that. Now the only question was why Blair was so convinced that Ellison would never put his research ahead of his own privacy.

"Captain Ellison?" A new nurse stood in the doorway to the surgical area. "If you'll follow me...?" She turned and Ellison followed.

"Come on, Teal'c, we've got another geek to deal with. Maybe we can catch a few hours' sleep on the jet back to Colorado."

19. Chapter Nineteen

Teal'c stepped into Dr. Frasier's infirmary. Blair lay, pale and gaunt, on the white sheets, but he still breathed. Next to him sat Jim Ellison reading a book. The man had claimed the bed next to Blair, and after some negotiating between Dr. Frasier and O'Neill, he had been allowed to remain in the infirmary. "How is he?" Teal'c asked.

Ellison looked up from his book. "His temperature is two degrees higher than it should be, and every time he wakes up, he asks me the same questions."

Teal'c tipped his head and studied Blair Sandburg's prone form. Dr. Fraiser believed the young man would make a full recovery. Knowing that Blair was likely to recover, Teal'c felt a responsibility to address his concerns with Ellison. While the man had proven quite solicitous while Blair was unconscious, going so far as to demonstrate his Sentinel abilities to a small group of doctors who had been chosen to preview Blair's research, Teal'c did not trust the man to remain equally as solicitous once Blair awoke. And as the oldest warrior on base, Teal'c felt the need to act as dis'tra'ju, the master who oversaw the interpersonal relations within the unit. After he had become First Prime to Apophis, Master Bra'tac had taken the role of dis'tra'ju. Teal'c often mused that the older man had taken the more difficult role. At one hundred, Teal'c certainly did not feel old enough or experienced enough to handle this situation. Even Daniel admitted that Jim Ellison's behavior confused him.

"Did you need something?" Ellison asked, putting his book down on the edge of the bed.

"He has faced death before," Teal'c said. While he intended the words only as a general observation, Ellison sat up stiffly, clearly taking them as a prelude to conflict. "Among my people, that gives him a unique view on the world."

Ellison didn't answer right away. Instead, he shifted around on the narrow chair and carefully closed his book, setting it on the edge of the table beside Blair's bed. "So, you believe in that shamanic crap?"

Teal'c considered his answer carefully. Once Blair Sandburg had provided the correct term, Teal'c found a wealth of information on shamanic rites. "I do," Teal'c agreed. "He has sought the spirit realms since he was ten, does that not imply that he feels a connection?" Teal'c could immediately tell that this information was new to Ellison; he frowned at the sleeping figure of Blair.

"He's never had a vision." Ellison sounded defensive.

"When dead, did he not envision himself as an animal, searching the next realm for something which he still lacks?" Teal'c walked around to the far side of Blair's bed, and Ellison visibly tensed.

"The doctor said that oxygen deprivation makes people see things. He nearly drowned."

Teal'c considered Ellison's words, but they sounded untruthful. They sounded afraid. "Do you not wish for Blair Sandburg to be a shaman?" Teal'c could not imagine why a warrior would attempt to stop someone from taking such an honorable path, but then Teal'c could not imagine many things which humans had proved possible. Sometimes he wondered if he should remove himself from Blair Sandburg and Jim Ellison's lives and allow Bra'tac to address the problem when he arrived. However, despite the fact that Teal'c had sent for his former master nearly a week earlier, word had not yet returned. If Blair Sandburg recovered before Bra'tac returned to Earth, Teal'c could not allow the young man to remain in danger. He had attempted to explain the danger to the others, but not even Daniel could seem to fully grasp the risks when a tao qua ca tec'ma'te i cal mah no longer held ties to the world of the living. Too many of Blair's ties had been severed.

Ellison still did not answer, but he stared at Teal'c with great anger. Since Teal'c could not fathom the psychology of such behavior, he decided to focus on the behavior itself.

"Your willingness to allow Blair Sandburg to suffer is dishonorable."

Immediately, Ellison was on his feet, his fists clenched. He strode to the end of Blair's bed, his body language screaming of his desire to physically strike out. "I would never let Blair suffer. I put up with O'Neill and his machinations, I put up with the doctors, and the fucking secret base and the confidentially agreements and threats. I'm doing that because I don't want Blair to suffer."

"And yet, you did nothing to attempt to help him with his difficulties at school."

"Blair's a big boy. He doesn't need me to babysit him."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow. Blair had clearly described Jim as a mother hen when he had spoken to the healer when he had first injured his ankle. This was not behavior Teal'c associated with such a description.

"Does he not need you to defend him from an attacker with a baseball bat?" Teal'c asked. Ellison's reaction was a mass of contradictions: he blushed, but his fists tightened; his shoulders dropped in shame, but he took an aggressive step forward.

"I would—" Ellison stopped and took a deep breath. "I've made mistakes."

Teal'c raised an eyebrow, inviting Ellison to continue, but he fell silent. Teal'c had very little experience with diplomacy, and he doubted that General Hammond would approve of a more physical confrontation, so Teal'c resorted to the truth.

"Your fellow officers believe you capable of abusing Blair." Teal'c watched as the words struck Ellison. They only seemed to fuel his anger, so obviously Teal'c had not achieved his goal. An angry Ellison would be more of a danger to both Blair Sandburg and others. "Both Jack Kelso and the woman with whom he is intimate believe that your behavior is questionable."

"The woman? Who?" Ellison demanded.

"A woman detective within your department," Teal'c said. Ellison's anger grew even deeper.

"She's a busybody. She doesn't even know us," he snapped.

"She knows that you chose to give aid to an enemy before assisting Blair Sandburg," Teal'c pointed out. "I witnessed you blaming Blair for the attack against him, and you were ready to believe that he would have betrayed you by revealing your secret willingly."

Ellison's face turned an alarming shade that Teal'c associated with battle or extreme heat. "Don't pretend you know us. If you want something, just spit it out." Ellison crossed his arms and glared threateningly, not that Teal'c felt threatened. One such as Ellison would have to train for many years or be armed with rather impressive weapons before Teal'c would feel threatened.

"I wish only to prevent the death of a young man who is a shaman. Among my people, to fail to protect one on such an honorable path is a dishonor."

Teal'c spoke truth. His people had many legends of those who journeyed in order for their calak to find the path to the next life. Most found that path only once the primta died. It was said that the goa'uld whispered lies when one sought the next life, but those without larval goa'uld did sometimes learn to travel the path and guide others.

"So, this is just nobility on your part?" Ellison asked with great irreverence. Teal'c chose to ignore the insult.

"A tribe lucky enough to be blessed with the presence of a shaman would die—down to the last warrior—before allowing the shaman to suffer. Your tribe has not honored Blair Sandburg."

"So, this is all because you think Blair is a shaman?" Ellison smiled and shook his head. "You don't know what you're talking about. Sure, Blair talks the talk with all that holistic shit, but he isn't a shaman. I knew a shaman, and trust me, Blair isn't one."

"He knew which enemy warrior would return to our side in the fight," Teal'c pointed out. The NID soldier Blair had identified had, within days, revealed all he knew of his superiors. Knowledge of another's heart was the mark of a tao qua ca tec'ma'te i cal mah. And Teal'c's trust in Blair Sandburg's judgment was the only reason Teal'c insisted on believing that Jim Ellison could be taught better manners.

Ellison did not have an immediate answer for that. "He's been around police work for a long time. He's learned to read people," he finally said tightly, and then Ellison turned his back and focused his eyes on Blair's still form. The machinery created a mechanical rhythm. Ellison cocked his head as though listening, and Teal'c wondered if he listened to Blair's body, some distant conversation, or the rhythm of those machines.

"You shall kill him," Teal'c announced. Ellison did not turn around. He reached out and rested a hand on top of the blanket where Blair's leg lay. "He needs a connection to this world, and you offer him shame and guilt. He believes he has hurt you, and you do not correct this assumption. Either he did hurt you, and you treat him so because you wish revenge, or he did not hurt you, and you allow him to suffer guilt needlessly."

"You have no idea what happened." Ellison's voice was tight with emotion.

"I know that he worked with another Sentinel. I know that she drowned him, and that even ill, he chose to follow you. I know that you did not return his loyalty. Is that not correct?" Teal'c had received parts of the story from Blair Sandburg, parts from Jack Kelso, and parts from Daniel's research in the local newspapers, so he could not definitively know the truth.

"My senses were out of control." Ellison fisted the blanket so that the edge pulled down far enough to reveal the mass of tubes that drained the wounds Blair had suffered.

"You were not able to exercise good judgment?" Teal'c asked. Sometimes such things did happen in battle.

"This is..." Ellison simply stopped.

Teal'c could understand the shame. After Rya'c had been drugged into pledging loyalty to Apophis and nearly destroying Earth, he had shown great reluctance to speak of it. Daniel Jackson and O'Neill still refused to discuss Hathor and the way she had confused them into following her. As warriors, their honor suffered under such attacks. Even before joining the Tau'ri, Teal'c had seen cases where fatigue or drugs or just an unusual situation created such despair or confusion that even strong warriors lost their true path. That was when one had to rely upon fellow-warriors. Teal'c had seen Daniel turn to O'Neill when poisoned by the sarcophagus, and Teal'c was often grateful for Carter's presence at his side on missions. Being First Prime of Apophis had not given him the diplomatic skills required for missions, so when he encountered new situations where his warrior's knowledge failed him, he relied on her to guide him safely through the confusion.

"A warrior is not always in control of his actions," Teal'c admitted, not sure how to reach Ellison. "However, confusion should have led you to hold to Blair Sandburg, and yet you pushed him away. If you had been manipulated, you should have repaired the schism between you. You act to keep him close, but you then treat him with disrespect."

Teal'c did not wait for an answer. As long as he remained in the room, Ellison was focusing on his hatred of Teal'c and not his own behavior. At this point, only time could force some truths into Ellison. Teal'c passed the guard at the door with a nod and then exited into the hallway.

"So, any luck?" Carter asked. She had been leaning against the hallway, but she stood when he exited the room.

"I do not believe so," Teal'c admitted. He hoped that Bra'tac would respond to his message soon. Teal'c was not skilled enough to be dis'tra'ju.

"He seems to like Blair, but he treats him like a puppy that peed on his carpet. I don't get it," Carter sighed.

Teal'c thought about Ellison and his unwillingness to respect the shaman. "My mother used to tell the story of Tri'kepa, a young warrior who possessed a magical weapon," Teal'c started.

"That story is not going to end well, is it?" Carter asked with a wry smile. She started walking toward the elevator, and Teal'c followed.

"Indeed," he agreed. "The blade could kill all enemies, but he allowed the weapon to rust. When his mother asked him to go into the woods and return with firewood, he took his weapon rather than take the time to sharpen an ax."

"And he broke it," Carter guessed.

"Shattered it," Teal'c corrected her with a tilt of his head.

"It's a little like the story of the Golden Goose. And Ellison really is about to kill the Golden Goose. I was talking to Janet, and she said that Blair's lungs have scarring. But the records at the police station show that he was still down there every day that Ellison was. On top of teaching and trying to go to classes, he had no time to recover from pneumonia." Carter punched the button for the elevator with far more energy than actually required.

"Shall General Hammond allow Ellison to take Blair Sandburg back to Cascade?" Teal'c asked.

Carter's face twisted in disgust, much like it had on the world with the giant herbivores who had left droppings on the only source of naquadah. She had been most displeased at having to remove the offending material before collecting samples. "It's not up to us, Teal'c. If Blair wants to go back with Ellison, he can."

"Even if Ellison is endangering him?" Teal'c asked. The elevator opened.

"Yep," Carter agreed. Then she smiled as she got in the elevator. "Of course, that doesn't keep us from giving him some pretty damn attractive choices. I called General Greenburg at the academy, and he is very interested in anyone who can help soldiers with Post Combat Hypersensitivity Disorder. He'll make Blair a good offer."

Teal'c felt better knowing that Carter was doing her best to protect Blair Sandburg. He expected that she would have far greater success than he would.

"I really hate that man," Carter said as soon as the elevator started rising.

"Ellison?" Teal'c asked.

"Oh yeah. Being a woman in science and in the military, I always felt like I had something to prove."

Teal'c inclined his head toward her, not understanding the relationship between her statement and her hatred of Ellison.

She shook her head and looked up at the ceiling for a second. "I watched plenty of women, smart women, tear themselves apart because they were always trying to prove themselves to men who never gave them the time of day."

For a moment, Teal'c thought he might have misunderstood a colloquialism. "Why would they be dismissive of good work?"

"Because it came from a woman," Carter said with far more anger than she normally used. "Those assholes thought that women should be home making brownies and babies. Janet's ex-husband even told her she was nuts for going into the Air Force because military service was for men."

Teal'c frowned in confusion, both over why someone would believe such patent foolishness and why their conversation had taken such a turn. Being confused, he simply waited for Carter to say something that would clarify things.

"I see the same thing in Blair. His notes are incredible. He's documented Ellison's senses under a huge range of conditions, sometimes controlled, and sometimes while people were shooting guns at him. He's outlined dozens and dozens of tests and exercises that he developed to make sure Ellison didn't lose control, but did you see Ellison when those doctors came to test him?"

"I did not." Teal'c followed Carter as she exited the elevator with great speed and jerky steps that signaled her great distress.

"He said that what Blair did was 'no big deal.' He actually said that." Carter stopped at the intersection between the cafeteria and the training room. She looked one way and then the other before she looked over her shoulder at him. "Do you want to spar?" she asked. It had been many months since she had requested him as a sparring partner, since Dr. Carter from the alternate reality had come through the quantum mirror.

"I do," Teal'c agreed, and then followed her toward the training room.

"He's a real ass. He lets Blair spend all that time on all that research, and then he has the nerve to call it 'no big deal.' It'd be a big deal if he was sitting in a corner of the room screaming with his arms wrapped around his head. He'd call it a big deal then." Carter muttered the words, and from the way several men detoured out of their path, Teal'c did not think he was alone in noting Carter's bad mood. However, lately it felt as though the team was suffering through these moods individually, so Teal'c was very grateful that she had requested his assistance.

She headed into the training room, and the science officers from SG 14 and SG 12 were using half the room to practice throws. Neither man was particularly proficient, but it spoke well of their dedication that they were willing to practice. Teal'c removed his jacket and shoes and studied the weapons on the wall while Carter stretched.

"It's too bad that he's such a good cop because I really don't want to respect that man for anything," she said as she placed her hands flat against the ground and arched her back.

"His senses are impressive," Teal'c pointed out. When searching for their missing members, Ellison had provided a tactical advantage that had most likely prevented the NID from moving Daniel and Canarsee to a more secure location.

Carter glared up at him. "We're supposed to be bonding over hating him," she pointed out.

Teal'c nodded. He had not known that. Certainly, a common enemy could unite allies, but he had not felt the need to reinforce his alliance with Carter. She stood up and stretched her neck one way and then the other.

"I'm the one who tried to keep him from zoning during the mission, and it was not fun. He was constantly shoving at me. He even put an elbow in my stomach."

Teal'c had not known that either. He raised an eyebrow and wondered whether Ellison had been rejecting Carter, rejecting any guidance other than Blair, or if he was that disagreeable with everyone who attempted to help him.

Carter stepped onto the mat without any weapon, and Teal'c followed her. She raised her hands defensively, and the other men stopped sparring. Teal'c moved in cautiously. Right now, Carter showed so much emotion that she might make a precipitous attack that could lead to injury.

"I had a friend at the academy who spent an entire semester trying to write a paper that would get an A from this misogynistic ass." She darted forward, and Teal'c countered her strike. She twirled and struck at his ankles, and he retreated several steps. She followed up with a series of strikes, and Teal'c blocked them for a minute before landing a blow on her breastbone.

She gasped loudly and fell back several steps, but she kept her hands up, deflecting several follow up blows that Teal'c aimed at her head.

"Did your friend ever earn the grade she sought?" Teal'c asked when they both fell back to more defensive positions.

"No. And she spent so much time on that damn class that her other classwork suffered." Carter circled warily, sweat forming at her brow. "She could never let it go."

"You did," Teal'c guessed.

"My only B," Carter confirmed before kicking at his knee. Teal'c moved to block, and she caught him on the shoulder with a punch that he had not expected. He rolled to one side and regained his feet, catching her arm as she tried to strike him again. He yanked her hard enough to pull her off balance and then tossed her behind him. She ran several steps to avoid falling before spinning back around to face him again.

"You were wise," Teal'c said. Now he circled her.

"Yeah, but that's only because I grew up with a father who I pretty much fought with from the first day I was old enough to talk. I get the feeling Blair is not that good with conflict." Carter shifted to keep him in sight.

"Do you believe he lacks the ability to defend himself?" Teal'c asked.

Carter dropped her hands to her sides, and Teal'c took a step back, acknowledging that she had ended the match. "Teal'c, Danny had to take care of himself from the time his parents died. You grew up in the middle of a war, I had my father, and the colonel." She stopped. "I have no idea what his background is, but I'm willing to bet that he grew up having to scramble for respect."

Teal'c tilted his head. The State Department had provided full backgrounds on both men. "But did Blair Sandburg not live on his own from an early age?" Teal'c asked.

Carter shrugged. "Yeah, but he had a mother who taught him to not get in conflicts."

"She had great conflicts with the government," Teal'c objected.

Carter was already shaking her head. "Teal'c, think about when we went back in time. Michael and Jenny?"

Teal'c did remember the two people who had helped them when they had been trapped in the past. Michael had been most obsessed with having Teal'c sit up front.

"They fought the government, but can you see those two getting in a fight with a person? Can you see them telling someone to go fuck themselves, even someone who needed to get told that?"

"I see." Teal'c had not considered that before, but if Blair had been raised to negotiate in all situations, that might explain his inability to defend himself.

"Yeah, I see, too. That doesn't mean I like it," Carter said. Then she dropped back into an aggressive stance, and Teal'c returned his attention to their fight. Unfortunately, he still had no answers.

20. Chapter Twenty

Blair itched. He really itched. But when he tried to reach down and scratch his stomach, something caught his hand and pressed it back against the mattress. For a second, Blair thought he could smell jungle rot, the musk of water held trapped within leaves and of layers of fallen debris rotting underfoot. Maybe the Kombai tree people had found him and were about to shoot him with a dart. He remembered that. He remembered falling face down in tree litter and scrambling up, leaves caught in his short curls. He remembered them laughing.

The memory was familiar, but it didn't seem to fit. Blair blinked and found himself staring at white tiles. "Wha...?" He tried, but he couldn't manage to get more out.

"Hey, Chief. Do you want some ice?" Jim was there. The old Jim, the Jim who looked at him with worry when he came home late from a date, the Jim who ruffled his hair. Blair wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. Recent Jim had the same face, the same sharp blue eyes and wide shoulders, but he had a hardness to him that was missing now. Blair nodded.

Jim held fingers to his lips, feeding him a small ice chip. The cold was a shock against Blair's tongue, but the few scant drops of water soothed a sore throat. Blair swallowed and realized he had a feeding tube down his nose, which was one reason why his throat hurt like a son-of-a-bitch.

"We're in Colorado," Jim said without prompting. He also offered a second ice chip. "This is O'Neill's base. You were injured—shot—but the doctor says you're going to be just fine." Jim smiled at him sadly. "What am I going to do with you, Chief? You get yourself in a lot of trouble."

Blair tried to wave Jim's comments off dismissively, but his arm was weak and he didn't manage more than a twitch. That's the first time he realized he couldn't feel his body.

"My legs?" Blair asked, panic starting to clear the fuzz from the edges of his thoughts.

"What about them? Do you have an itch?" Jim looked at him with honest confusion and concern.

"Mr. Sandburg?" a new voice called. A short woman in a white coat appeared, her eyes studying the machines that beeped around him before she finally looked at him and smiled. "Before you go back to sleep, I just need to check a couple of things." She pulled out a small light and shone it right into his eyes.

Blair made a little noise of protest, but that didn't get him more than a reassuring pat on the arm from Jim.

"He seems a little more alert this time," the woman said to Jim before she smiled down at him. "You're a fighter; you'll recover just fine."

"What?" Blair managed an entire word this time, but he couldn't get more out. He needed to cough, but he didn't feel strong enough to do it.

"You had some serious internal damage. The bullets perforated the liver, nicked the pancreas, and tore the peritoneal envelope, but you seem to be recovering well. Do you feel any pain?" The woman moved her hand down, and Blair watched as she poked around his side and then his legs. At least he knew for sure that he still had legs.

"Nothing at all," Blair managed to croak out. He sounded like an old man who'd been smoking for about eighty years. Jim offered him another ice chip, and Blair smiled at him uneasily. It was nice to have the old Jim back, but it left Blair feeling edgy, like he wasn't sure when Dr. Jekyll was going to turn into Mr. Hyde.

The woman smiled at him. "Pain can be a problem with this type of injury, so we have you on some pretty serious pain killers."

"Don't like drugs," Blair managed to say. It made him sound petulant, but he didn't have the energy for a long conversation about the overuse of pharmaceuticals in modern medicine.

"Oh, honey, if you didn't have drugs in you, you'd be begging for them," the doctor told him with a tone of voice that almost made Blair believe her. "On the street, it'd cost you about a thousand dollars to get stuff this good, and without it, you'd be in so much pain your heart rate would go right off the charts. But we'll get you off them just as soon as we can safely. I don't lose patients in here."

She meant the words to reassure him, but Blair suddenly realized that he was in a semi-private room with a doctor that appeared like magic the second he woke up. That took money. That took a whole lot of money that he didn't have. Hell, he didn't have next month's rent. Blair's mind darted off to the hospital where he'd been after Alex had drowned him, the beeping of the machine that monitored his breathing and Jim joking about not letting him go because of back rent or something. Blair'd been fuzzy.

"Mr. Sandburg? Blair?" The woman was in his face. Blair opened his mouth to get more air, and he couldn't. He was drowning. Alex's hands were holding him down, and the dark water was rising up, filling his chest and pressing against his heart until he could feel it stop. He could feel his body just stop.

"Chief? Just calm down, Chief. Deep breaths." That was Jim. The woman called for something, but cold was flowing into Blair, pressing against him, and now he had to fight even harder for every breath.

"Blair, it's okay. You're safe," Jim promised him. He looked so worried. Blair opened his mouth, he tried to tell Jim that he shouldn't worry, but a mask slipped over his face, and the darkness pressed up and into Blair until only the darkness existed and Blair slipped away.

~ ~ ~ ~

Flickers of light slid through the darkness, and Blair moved quietly. Alex was somewhere in the dark, her fingers reaching for him, ready to press him into the quiet waters. Recent Jim was here too, scowling at him for something that Blair couldn't ever understand. Kombai warriors and the man Naomi had dated when he was ten and Incacha, his fingers red with his own blood, they were all here. And a woman whose hair flowed with light. She was the source of the flickers that Blair dodged. He tried to make himself small as a mouse so he could scramble away. All of them were hunting him. Alex's fingers brushed against his arm, and Blair shrank from her touch.

"Blair?" Recent Jim was trying to tempt him to come close, but Blair's ankle throbbed in warning. Recent Jim wasn't to be trusted. "Blair?"

He turned away from the calling spirit and tried to escape the flickering light. He could hide better in the dark.

"Blair?"

"His vitals are strong." A woman spoke, and Blair thought he should know that voice. It wasn't one of the ones hunting him, but it still followed him.

"He's awake. He's just being stubborn." Jim sounded unhappy. "Come on, Chief. Wake up for me."

Blair couldn't ignore the direct request. He opened his eyes and stared blearily at the white tiles.

"Wha...?"

"There you are," Jim said with a smile, but it wasn't Recent Jim, it was Old Jim, Friendly Jim. He held an ice chip up. Blair nodded and Jim placed the chip between his lips. It tasted of salt and winter and Blair sucked at it as he tried to focus on the familiar-looking woman in the white coat.

"Where are we?" Blair asked. This didn't look like any hospital he knew.

"We're in Colorado," Jim answered. "Cheyenne Mountain, home of Colonel O'Neill."

Blair frowned. They didn't like O'Neill. Why would they follow him to Colorado? "Um, why?"

"You got yourself shot again, Chief. But you're getting the best care here."

Blair looked over at the woman and searched memories that floated like bits of trash on the sea after a storm. "Dr. Fraiser?" he asked, not sure if he had found the right memory.

She turned and gave him a huge smile. "That's right. That's the first time you've remembered that on your own. You keep this up, and we'll have you up and out of here in no time." She patted him on the leg, but Blair felt numb, like he'd been frozen and hadn't yet totally thawed. "I need you to tell me if you feel anything," she said as she pulled the blanket back. Blair flinched at the sight of his own body emaciated and pale.

"How long?" he asked weakly.

"Three weeks. You've been in and out of consciousness, but you were really starting to worry us," Dr. Fraiser answered. "People in my infirmary are not allowed to die or slip into comas, so you just keep that in mind," she threatened him with a sharp finger, but she also smiled. Blair smiled back.

"Chief, are you feeling okay?" Jim asked. He looked tired, and Blair could see the bed next to his with Jim's pillow and quilt from home draped over it. Fuck. So they were both here. Jim wouldn't have left in the middle of an IA investigation unless O'Neill had issued something stronger than an invitation. Damn that man.

Rather than curse out the colonel publicly, Blair just nodded.

"Can you feel that?" the doctor asked as she poked something into his foot.

"Yeah," Blair said weakly. Jim offered him another ice chip as Dr. Fraiser moved up on his legs, pricking him and then waiting for a nod from Blair. "I can't feel much," Blair complained as she finally finished and pulled the blanket over him.

"You're on some powerful pain killers," she told him. Blair frowned, but she cut him off before he could say anything. "And you're going to stay on them until you have a chance to recover. Pancreas damage can lead to some fairly severe pain and that can raise blood pressure and heart rate. So, until you can stand up and walk to the bathroom on your own without falling on your nose, you're staying on the drugs."

Blair blinked fast, surprised at the sudden steel in her tone.

"You've given her some grief, Chief," Jim said, and he almost sounded amused. "Just say 'yes' to the nice doctor and let her get to her other patients."

"Um, okay," Blair said. A memory bobbed to the surface. He'd been trying to pull at his IV and explain the benefits of homeopathic pain remedies.

The doctor crossed her arms and looked at him for a second as though trying to judge whether or not she could trust him.

"She's not buying it, Blair," Daniel said from the far side of the room. Blair looked over and smiled, and Daniel stood up straight, shock on his face.

"Oh man, I guess I look bad, huh?" Blair guessed. Jim had raised his bed some, so Blair could see just how stick-like he'd become. Of course, he'd lost a lot of weight even before getting shot, but now he'd lost a whole lot. He could start a whole new diet craze with his current body because he was just about model-thin.

"Yeah, you do, hon," Dr. Fraiser agreed. "I have a lot of degrees that say I know what I'm doing, and I don't have anything against your natural remedies once we have the major internal damage healed, but Chinese herbs are no match for a high-velocity projectile through the liver."

Blair nodded his agreement.

"Blair?" Daniel called. "You can see me?"

Blair looked around. "Um yeah. Do I have something wrong with my eyes?"

"Chief?" Jim asked, and he was right there, his nose an inch from Blair's own.

"Do you see any damage?" the doctor asked, and then she was there with her little light. Oh yeah, Blair remembered hating having her shine that thing into his eyes. She'd done that a lot.

"No, no damage that I can see," Jim said.

"Well, you're more likely to see something than I am, but I don't see anything either. Blair, why do you think something is wrong with your eyes?" Dr. Fraiser asked.

"Um, I don't. Daniel just acted surprised," Blair said with a weak wave toward Daniel.

Dr. Fraiser and Jim exchanged odd looks. "He's still confused. His brain is still trying to fully wake up," Dr. Fraiser offered.

"What is wrong with you two?" Blair asked, wrinkling his nose in annoyance at the feeding tube jammed down it. "Daniel acted weird that I could see him, so I just thought I might have something wrong with my eyes."

"Don't get upset, Chief," Jim shushed him, and Blair glared at the man.

"Could I get a sedative?" Dr. Fraiser asked someone on the other side of a curtain.

"No!" Blair and Daniel said at the same time.

"Blair," Daniel said with a desperate edge to his voice, "I'll explain all this later, but right now, you can't let them give you a sedative, which means you can't get upset."

"I'm not upset. I'm okay," Blair said, holding his hand up to stop Dr. Fraiser from giving him anything. Jim caught his hand between his own palms and held it. "I'm okay," Blair insisted a little louder.

"But you see Jackson?" Jim asked.

"No, tell him I'm a dream. I'll explain later, but no one can see me." Daniel took a step closer. Blair looked from Daniel to Jim, caught between wanting to help one and not wanting to lie to the other.

"Hypnopompic hallucinations aren't unheard of during recovery," Dr. Fraiser said kindly.

"He's really here," Blair insisted.

"It was an accident on P7X-377. The team was hit by radiation that came from a crystal skull," Daniel said, the words tumbling out faster than Blair had ever heard the man talk. It suddenly occurred to Blair that Daniel wasn't joking. He'd been on another fucking planet and had turned invisible. Blair had thought his life was strange, but the Kombai people of New Guinea had nothing on this.

"Calm down, Chief," Jim soothed him, resting a hand on Blair's chest.

"I'm calm," Blair insisted as he fought to control his racing heart. "But Jim, Daniel really is here. There was an accident..." Blair blinked as the world went out of focus. "Really." He struggled to come up with the name of the planet. That would convince them to listen to him. "P... P3PO..." Blair blinked at Dr. Fraiser who was pulling a needle out of one of the tubes attached to his arm.

"Damn it," Daniel said softly. "I'll be here when you wake up. You can ask for Jack then," Daniel said, but Blair couldn't answer. He could only blink as the dark rose up and he was lost in a land of darkness and flickering lights.

~ ~ ~ ~

Blair sat, small and quiet, within a flicker of light. It was like he was inside the flame of the meditation candle. The darkness swirled around him, angry and needy faces, but Blair filtered them out as he found an island of quiet in his soul.

"Turning your back on others is no better than being part of the oppressive system yourself." Naomi's voice echoed in his memory, and the flicker of light around him dimmed, swirls of darkness crowding against him. Part of Blair wanted the darkness, and part wanted to stay in the light. A face appeared in front of him, and it shifted between the image of the Virgin Mary and Naomi, two women who really could not have been more different. The dichotomy amused Blair. He smiled, and the flickers of light around the woman's face intensified.

A voice called to him, searching for him. For a second, Blair felt himself pulled toward the darkness, toward the voice that called him. But then the light intensified, and Blair found such peace that he couldn't find the energy to respond to that distant voice. He couldn't go out into that darkness; he really couldn't do it alone. He settled back in the light and closed his eyes, reaching something that came close to perfect silence as he listened to the sound of his own heart thumping in his chest.

"Blair?" a new voice came from the darkness. Blair could feel the dark tendrils slip into the light and tug at him. The woman was gone, but her light still flickered around him like embers. Blair knew if he just blew on one, he could find the flame again. He wanted to.

"Blair?" the voice called again.

"I didn't give him this much sedative. Maybe we should run another MRI test."

"Blair?"

Blair blinked. Jim's face was like a fun house mirror, all unfamiliar curves and distortions until he blinked again. "Jim?" He looked around, and for a second, the flickering lights of his dreams were superimposed over the white curtain and medical equipment, Dr. Fraiser and her white coat, and Jim and his black t-shirt and fatigue pants. "Why are you in fatigues?" Blair asked as he looked at Jim's military issue pants. The obvious answer was that Jim had been pulled back into the military, but Blair was hoping for a miracle.

Jim blinked at him for a second. "Well, that's a new question, at least," he said, and he sounded amused. Jim never sounded amused anymore, not since Alex and Mexico and Blair's major fuck-up followed by Jim's major fuck-up.

"Do you know where you are?" Dr. Fraiser asked.

"Colorado?" Blair asked, only 90% sure that he was right. Dr. Fraiser smiled at him. "Cheyenne Mountain," he added.

"I knew it took more than a couple bullets to scramble that brain of yours, Chief," Jim said, and then he reached up and ruffled Blair's hair, a familiar gesture that always sent Blair scrambling to defend his head. Despite the tangles and the indignity, that gesture, more than any other, made Blair feel close to Jim. Jim would slap another man on the back, and even hug another man, but Jim never ruffled anyone else's hair. It was an intimate gesture. Blair smiled, not even trying to push Jim away like he usually did.

"So, why are you in fatigues?" Blair repeated as he looked around for Daniel. No Daniel in sight, so maybe he had dreamed that part.

"Because the base won't wash civilian clothes and I don't feel like driving an hour to the nearest laundromat," Jim said, his eyes crinkled with amusement. "Is that okay with you?"

"You're not...?" Blair stopped and looked over at Dr. Fraiser. He shouldn't have asked in front of someone from base.

"Have I been drafted?" Jim asked. The minute he asked, Blair knew the answer. If Jim had been forced back into the military, he wouldn't sound amused about it.

"So, no?"

"No. I'm here because I have a friend who got himself shot. You do that a little too much, Chief."

"I try to duck. My superspeed must be on the fritz," Blair joked, weirdly feeling like he'd fallen back into the early days of their partnership.

"You seem a whole lot better," Dr. Fraiser said as she shined a light in his eyes... again. He was learning to hate that thing.

"Is that a medical opinion, Dr. Fraiser?" Blair asked. "Like maybe you can start backing off the drugs?"

"He sounds like Sandburg again," Jim said with another ruffle of Blair's hair. He held an ice chip to Blair's lips, and Blair gratefully sucked it in.

"Let's give it a little time. Oh, and now that you're aware enough to actually understand that I'm threatening you, if you try to pull those IV lines out again, you're going to be in restraints, got it?" she asked.

"I'm guessing I wasn't the best patient," Blair said with an embarrassed smile.

Dr. Fraiser shook her head. "Trying to keep up with you and Colonel O'Neill at the same time was interesting. Of course, I could do without that much interesting in my life."

"Colonel O'Neill?" Blair remembered something, something about him having to ask for Jack.

"He's gone. You don't have to deal with him," Jim reassured him with a pat on the arm. For a second, Blair just let himself close his eyes and pretend that Ventriss hadn't happened, that the incident at the dumpster and in Mexico and with Alex... that none of it had happened and he and Jim were still best friends. It was a nice fantasy.

"I'll give you two some time," Dr. Fraiser said before she gave Blair a pat on the leg and then left, pulling the curtain shut behind her.

Blair looked up at Jim, hoping for an explanation. His throat still hurt, and he didn't want to have to play twenty questions with a silent and stoic Jim, but this looked like his old friend Jim, so maybe he wouldn't have to.

"So?" Blair prompted him.

"You're really back this time, huh? No more checking out for days at a time?" Jim asked, and Blair could hear the fear in Jim's words. He frowned, but then Jim reached over and ruffled his hair. "So, it looks like O'Neill knows all about Sentinels or people with P-chad, whichever you want to call it. He sent some of your work over to Bethesda, and you stirred up a hornet's nest over there. Dr. Dubois was ready to write you off as a quack, but he came here, and I showed him a couple of tricks. I think he was impressed."

Blair stopped breathing. Jim had not only talked to someone, but demonstrated his abilities? Okay, this was not Jim. This was an impostor and Blair needed to find the pod before the aliens took over the rest of the world.

"It isn't that surprising," Jim said gruffly, as though he had read Blair's mind. "Okay, so I didn't like them poking around, but I would rather have them poke around me than call you a quack." Jim's mouth twisted in disgust. "That was actually the nicest word Dr. Dubois used."

Daniel appeared at the curtain, or through the curtain, rather. Blair's eyes went wide, but Daniel held up a finger to his lips to quiet him. "Blair, don't react to me or they'll sedate you again. Just nod if you still see me."

Blair nodded.

"Doing the tests for Dubois wasn't as bad as doing your tests," Jim mused. "At least he didn't make me drink sour milk."

"I didn't--" Blair stopped, distracted by the sight of Daniel walking through Jim to reach a spot near Blair's head. "Jim, I'm really tired of being hooked up to all this," Blair said, raising his left arm. It was strapped to a board with a dozen different lines coming off it. On top of that, he had sensors on his chest and head and a tube down his nose.

"No, Chief. You are not taking that stuff off," Jim said, his voice making it very clear that he was on Fraiser's side in this battle.

"I totally get that," Blair hurried to say. "Just, maybe you could talk her into letting me eat on my own. Maybe some Jello or pudding? I really want something in my stomach, you know?" Blair hated lying to Jim. Actually, he wasn't lying as much as he wasn't mentioning the ghost in the room, but it didn't feel good.

Jim stared at him strangely for several seconds. "Please?" Blair pleaded. "Come on, man. Use your powers of persuasion on her. Charm her. She looks scary, and you're good with scary women."

Jim still didn't look convinced, but Blair gave him the best puppy expression he could manage. For a second, Blair thought it wasn't going to work, but then Jim sighed and shook his head. "I'll try. No promises, though," he said as he headed out after Fraiser. Blair waited until Jim was gone and then he looked right at Daniel, waving his right hand to try and get Daniel talking.

"Oh, he'll hear if you talk, won't he?" Daniel asked after a few long seconds of staring at Blair's hand like it was spastic or something. Blair glared. "And he'll get Janet back in here." Daniel walked to the end of his bed. "Got it. God, how do you live with someone who can hear everything you do?"

Blair thought about that for a second and then shrugged. It wasn't like he really worried about it most of the time. Right now, he was more interested in other things. He poked a finger toward Daniel.

"My invisible problem," Daniel said, nodding his head. "The team was on P7X-377 when I found a crystal skull." Blair's eyebrows went up. Crystal skulls were German artifacts used to trick collectors in the 1800's into believing they were buying mystical Mayan artifacts. Why would one be on another planet? And sadly, he couldn't even ask because Jim would be all over him if he started talking to the air. "There was a burst of radiation, and now no one seems to be able to see me. Well, that's not technically true," Daniel said with a frown. "You can see me, and Teal'c knew I was near, but I couldn't communicate with him."

Blair had no answer for that at all. Jim accused him of having a Sandburg zone, but this was... this was too weird even for him.

"The skull was a perfect copy of the Ballard skull, which is a little odd since Nicholas Ballard is my grandfather. So, the team went to find him since as far as they're concerned, I vanished into thin air. And considering that he's in a psychiatric hospital, I'm not expecting much on that front. I was hoping you could talk to Jack for me, tell him that I'm here." Daniel looked at Blair hopefully.

Hopefully Jim had been gone long enough to get out of range, so Blair took a chance and whispered softly to Daniel, "What do you want me to tell him?"

"Tell him I think I'm out of phase or in another dimension or something. Tell him that asking Robert Rothman to try and figure out how the skull works is one of the stupidest plans he's ever tried, and that includes the time he blew up the ships we were riding on. Robert. Like Robert could figure out how a crystal skull could make a person vanish." Daniel made a very unhappy noise.

"He's no good?" Blair guessed.

"He's not imaginative," Daniel said with frustration.

"Oh. Not good," Blair agreed. People who weren't imaginative made great research assistants, and they were probably better at the long, grinding work of replication studies, but they weren't going to ever break new ground scientifically.

"To say the least," Daniel agreed with a sigh as he sank into the seat Jim had vacated. "If he wants an archeologist from my team to look at the artifact, he should ask Nyan. At least he has a little imagination."

Blair tried to place the nationality of such an unusual name. Japanese maybe. "Nyan?"

"He emigrated here from another planet. Jack's... just a little xenophobic," Daniel said with a shrug. "But at least Nyan would have remembered the first rule of archeology."

"Study the artifact in its original position?" Blair guessed. He hadn't specialized in archeology, but he'd taken enough of the classes during his undergrad years to at least know the rules that, when broken, caused archeologists to cringe and swear in multiple languages. He'd even broken that rule at a dig site when he was nineteen, and he could still remember every name the dig supervisor had called him. He'd learned a few new curse words that day. Some good ones, too.

Daniel surged up from the chair and threw his hands in the air. "Exactly! See! That is not a hard rule to figure out, but Robert is in there staring at the skull by itself. Artifacts out of context do not tell us anything. Well, not as much, anyway."

"I'm guessing that it was with other artifacts."

"An altar."

Blair cringed. "Oh man, the altar has to be at least as important as the skull."

"Which is what I would like to tell Jack. If I could talk to him. If he didn't just head home instead of pulling an all-nighter trying to save me." Daniel was pacing, his arms across his stomach.

Blair frowned. Maybe it was the drugs, but that last part didn't make a whole lot of sense to him. "I thought you couldn't talk to him."

"I can't," Daniel said. He sank back down into the chair, and Blair suddenly wondered why Daniel could sit in a seat but he went right through a curtain. Obviously the Jackson zone was stranger than the Sandburg zone.

"So, you need an archeologist to solve the problem, and Jack can't hear you, but he's supposed to... do what exactly?" Blair asked.

"Sit around and worry, that'd be a nice start," Daniel said wearily, and Blair suddenly understood. Daniel wanted some sort of evidence that his absence bothered the team. Blair got that. Actually, he got that way too much. When he was in the hospital after Alex had tried to kill him... after she *had* killed him... he had just wanted to be with Jim. The fact that Jim could go off on a mission—the fact that Jim didn't even need Blair, that hurt more than the pain of water filling his lungs.

"I hear you," Blair said wearily. "Sometimes having these big bad soldier types around is tough on the ego." Blair wanted so much to feel like Jim needed him, but waking up to have a nurse give him a message had pretty much destroyed his illusions. Jim was the soldier, the cop, the Sentinel. Blair was the sidekick. And everyone knows that Batman kept right on fighting crime after Robin got killed.

"Ignore me, I'm just having a really shitty week." Daniel gave him a sheepish grin.

"Yeah, me too. I think. I wasn't awake for most of it," Blair offered with a shrug. Daniel laughed.

"Your week was better than Ellison's. I hear Teal'c and Sam have been taking turns glaring at him. At least, they were until I disappeared."

"Oh man. He's going to..." Blair stopped. "Wait, he's not in a bad mood. Usually when people get in his face, he turns a little cranky."

"A little? If he's anything like Jack, he's more than a little cranky. Entire planets avoid Jack after he has to play nice with the Tok'ra."

"You should see Jim clear out the bullpen." Blair thought about that for a second. "Okay, compared to planets running in fear, clearing out a bullpen doesn't seem all that impressive."

"They're asses." Daniel stared out into space.

"Yeah, kinda," Blair agreed. "But Jim's still here living in a hospital bed for me." He poked a thumb toward the second bed where Jim had set up camp. "Of course, when I was in the hospital after my little bout of getting dead, he went running off to Mexico. I don't think I’m helping," Blair finally admitted.

"Neither one of them makes a lot of sense," Daniel agreed.

"Yeah, but at least yours is off talking to your crazy grandfather. It's a stupid plan, but he's doing something. That has to count."

"Probably." Daniel didn't sound all that convincing. "No, you're right, it does." Daniel stretched his legs out in front of him. "Of course, I need him here since I finally found a way to communicate with the rest of the world, but since when does Jack ever care about where I need him to be? Which is, again, unfair."

"Man, it sounds like you just need to unload."

"I'm not usually this neurotic. That's more Nick's end of the family." Daniel stared down at the floor, and Blair wished he could reach out and touch him, offer a pat on the shoulder or a quick slap on the back. He couldn't.

"Man, you are not sounding neurotic, just tired. I totally understand that."

Daniel looked up, a grin twisting the edges of his mouth. "Yeah, I heard about that—working full time at the police department and at the university and doing your research, all when you had pneumonia. When we had our briefing over your P-chad research, everyone from General Hammond on down were glaring death at Ellison. At least when I work eighteen hour days, I'm getting paid for it. A consultant with a PhD makes a pretty good living in the military."

"Whatever," Blair dismissed the whole conversation. Money really wasn't a topic that he wanted to discuss right now. He was still trying to figure out how he was going to pay for medical care and rent.

"Blair?" Jim stood next to the curtain, one hand still fisted around the white fabric, and the other holding a dish of blue Jello. "Chief, are you feeling alright?"

"Jim." Blair looked from Jim to Daniel. "Um, I can explain this," he hurried to say. He figured he'd better talk fast because Jim was looking at him like Blair had just lost his mind.

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